Lessons from the Pandemic: Recharging Educators and How the Wellness Fair Became a Big Win for Staff
By Becca Lamon, Superintendent, Ball-Chatham CUSD5 (I.L.)
In 2022, I stepped into my role as Superintendent of Ball-Chatham CUSD5 in Chatham, Illinois. As I began my listening tour with district administrators, directors, and staff leaders, I kept hearing the same message: “We want to feel valued and heard. We want to love our jobs again.”
The question I kept circling back to was: How do we support our staff and shift the focus from what we can’t control to what we can?
A New Vision for Professional Development Days
It started with a few small but meaningful changes. Since open enrollment was around the corner, we added voluntary accident and critical illness coverage, promoted the use of virtual doctor visits, and made sure everyone knew how to access their Employee Assistance Program. It was a good start—but it wasn’t enough.
Our district had four school improvement half-days built into the year—typically used for curriculum planning, policy updates, and large-group meetings. Previously, in a thoughtful gesture, the district had brought in a yoga instructor and a chair massage therapist during one of these afternoons to help staff decompress. The gesture was appreciated, but I couldn’t help thinking: We can do more.
Identifying Staff Needs
After looking deeper, we identified three core areas of stress for our staff:
Physical health
Mental well-being
Financial stability
That realization led us to reimagine one of those school improvement days—not as another meeting-heavy afternoon, but as a full-on Wellness Fair for every staff member in the district.
Building the Wellness Fair
We partnered with our local Chamber of Commerce and were able to bring together more than 40 organizations and vendors. In a single afternoon, staff could:
Get basic health screenings like hearing tests and thyroid checks
Schedule appointments with hard-to-access specialists, like pediatricians and sleep doctors
Talk with representatives from TRS and IMRF about retirement planning
Meet with financial advisors and open college savings accounts
Sip on protein smoothies, enter giveaways, and knock out their to-do list—all in one place
One elementary teacher told me she was nearly in tears after finally scheduling a doctor’s appointment for her child—something she’d been trying to do for months. Another staff member got clarity on her retirement questions without having to spend hours on hold.
The Power of Feeling Supported
Those kinds of moments remind us: when we support the people who care for our students, everyone benefits.
We’ve now hosted this fair three years in a row, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Staff look forward to it. They feel seen, supported, and appreciated. And students benefit from educators who feel a little more refreshed and a lot more cared for.
The best part? It takes about 10–15 hours to coordinate—mostly reaching out to vendors (who are excited to connect with 700+ potential clients). The setup is simple: tables, chairs, signs, and a few email reminders.
The return on investment? Huge.
A Message That Matters
For us, this isn’t just about wellness. It’s about saying, “You matter.”
And sometimes, that’s all people need to hear to feel a little more whole.
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